Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (1729-1797) was born in Dublin, Ireland, to an Anglican lawyer father and a Roman Catholic mother. He remained Anglican throughout his life. Burke was a political leader, distinguished orator, writer, and political thinker. After moving to England, he served for many years as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons with the liberal Whig party. He is chiefly remembered for his support of the American Revolution (against British public opinion) and his vehement criticism of the French Revolution, particularly through his work "Reflections on the Revolution in France." His reaction to the uprising of the French bourgeoisie established him as the leading figure of the conservative wing of the Whig party, which he termed the Old Whigs, in contrast to the New Whigs of Charles James Fox, who existed in the party before the French Revolution. Burke is considered the philosophical father of conservatism and a prominent advocate of classical liberalism. However, he also served as a significant political model for 20th-century thinkers such as John Maynard Keynes, among others.